Stingy Jack and the Jack-o'-Lantern (Campfire Story)

Long ago in Ireland, in a little village at the edge of the bog, there lived a man that everybody called STINGY JACK. He never paid for a drink. He never shared his bread. If you lent him a penny, you'd never see it again, and if you lent him two, he'd tell you that you only lent him one.

One autumn night, STINGY JACK was walking home along the dark road when he met a tall stranger in a long black coat. The stranger smiled with too many teeth, and Jack noticed that where his shoes touched the road, the grass turned brown and curled up. It was the DEVIL himself.

'Jack,' said the DEVIL, 'I've heard all about you. I've come to take you away with me.'

Now, STINGY JACK was greedy, but he wasn't stupid. 'Fair enough,' he said. 'But a man ought to have one last drink before a trip like that. Will you come to the pub with me?'

So the two of them sat down at the pub, and Jack ordered the finest drinks in the house. When the bill came, Jack patted his empty pockets. 'Oh dear. I haven't a penny. But you, sir, you can do anything. Why don't you turn yourself into a silver coin? I'll pay the bill, and you can turn back once we're outside.'

The DEVIL thought that was a clever trick, so poof, he turned himself into a shiny silver coin. But instead of paying, STINGY JACK snatched up the coin and dropped it into his pocket, right next to a little silver cross he always carried. The DEVIL couldn't stand to be near that cross. He couldn't change back, and he couldn't get out.

'Let me out!' cried the coin.

'I will,' said Jack, 'if you promise to leave me alone for one whole year.' And the DEVIL, stuck in Jack's pocket, had no choice but to promise.

A year went by, and sure enough, on another cold autumn night, the DEVIL was waiting on the dark road. 'No more tricks, Jack. This time you're coming with me.'

'Of course,' said STINGY JACK. 'But I'm awful hungry. See that apple tree? Those apples are the reddest I ever saw. Would you climb up and fetch me just one before we go?'

The DEVIL rolled his eyes, but he climbed the tree. And while he was up in the branches, Jack pulled out his knife and carved a cross into the bark of the trunk. Now the DEVIL couldn't climb down past it. He was stuck up there like a cat that can't get out of a tree.

'Get me down!' howled the DEVIL.

'I will,' said Jack, 'if you promise you'll never, ever take my soul.' And the DEVIL, stuck in the apple tree, had to promise. Jack scraped the cross off the bark, and the DEVIL slunk away into the night, grumbling.

STINGY JACK laughed all the way home. He thought he was the cleverest man in Ireland. He had tricked the DEVIL twice, and he never changed his stingy ways one bit.

But nobody lives forever. Years later, when Jack was an old man, he died, and his spirit went up to the gates of Heaven. The gatekeeper looked him up and down. 'You're STINGY JACK. You never shared a crumb or paid a debt your whole life long. There's no place for you here.'

So Jack's spirit wandered all the way down to the gates of the other place. And there was the DEVIL, leaning on the gate with his arms folded and a nasty grin on his face.

'Well, well,' said the DEVIL. 'You made me promise, Jack. I can never take your soul. So you can't come in here either.'

'But where will I go?' said Jack. 'It's so dark out there, I can't even see the road.'

The DEVIL laughed, reached into the fire behind him, and tossed Jack one burning coal. 'Here. That'll light your way. Forever.'

Jack had nothing to carry the coal in. All he had in his pocket was a turnip he'd stolen from somebody's garden. So he hollowed it out with his knife, set the glowing coal inside, and stumbled off into the night with his little LANTERN.

And he's out there still. Folks in Ireland called him Jack of the Lantern. On dark autumn nights, out over the bogs and the marshes, you might see a strange little light bobbing along where no person could be walking. That's Jack and his LANTERN, wandering, with nowhere to rest.

That's why, every year when the nights grow long, the people of Ireland and Scotland carved scary faces into turnips and set a candle inside. They put them in their windows and on their doorsteps to frighten away STINGY JACK and every other wandering spirit. When Irish families came to America, they found there weren't many turnips, but there were plenty of big orange pumpkins, and a pumpkin is a whole lot easier to carve.

So this Halloween, when you see a jack-o'-lantern grinning on a porch, remember who it's named for. And if you're ever tempted to be stingy, remember that tricking your way through life might just leave you with nowhere to go, except out in the dark, with a turnip and a coal for your LANTERN.

Storyteller tips: teach the three cues before you start and give everyone one practice round. Pause a beat before each cue word so the audience can jump in. For the ending, drop the volume and let the last LANTERN fade out on its own. If you have a carved pumpkin or turnip, keep it hidden and light it (or switch on the LED) when Jack gets his coal.

For younger Scouts, play the Devil as more grumpy than scary. Getting stuck in the coin and up the apple tree gets big laughs.